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This paper briefly studies the historical evolution of the Egyptian army, starting from the radical reforms of 1936. These reforms considerably eased the access of middle-class young men to the officer corps, improved the professional level of the corps, and launched processes of modernization. But these processes went wrong, and angry young officers, never far away from politics, seized power in 1952. The officer corps and the new regime took control of the State apparatus, which greatly expanded during the Nasser era. The 1967 defeat and the access of Sadat to the presidency led to a radical, but subtle, redefinition of the relations between the army and civil power. This pact lasted and proved to be resilient, but Mubarak’s plans of grooming his son for succession and the latter’s economic decisions compromised it. The army took sides against the president during the 2011 revolution. Its leaders are now overseeing a complex transition in order to cope with major challenges, with the internal cohesion of the army being one of them.